Second Chance
by DeerProngs
Summary: Harry Potter is finally getting his second chance. His life looking downcast, Fate decides to step in and save her unfortunate hero and send him back. This time, Harry gets a chance to fix things during the First Wizarding War, saving more lives than he could possibly count – including his own. AU. Cover art by Linndsey on deviantart.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Characters and world were created by JK Rowling.

**A/N: **Really short, but it's a cliffhanger so I'm perfectly fine.

* * *

It was the anniversary of the day Voldemort was defeated.

The war had been over for two years already but life did not perk up for Harry Potter. His heart bared a terrible hole that refused to be filled by anything.

He had saved the world from the Dark Lord, yet his life wasn't spared itself. How could people celebrate when Harry himself had lost so much? How could they live on regularly when Harry was just a shell of man?

Lupin. Tonks. Fred. His parents. Even Colin Creevy.

Every life lost was like a stab of the heart to Harry.

So now, while people celebrated the death of Voldemort, Harry wandered around at night, not paying any attention to where he was going, with an almost empty bottle of firewhiskey. All he could think about were all the lost lives of the people close to him.

Of the people who died for him – because of him.

By the time Harry had reached the London Bridge, he was so drunk, he could barely walk straight. Harry reached for the railing to steady himself. Out of nowhere, a small, frail, old woman appeared. She reached out a hand to help Harry.

"Who are you?" Harry asked worriedly. He was always wary of people - another cause of the war. Suddenly, the woman tightened her grip on him. She was unexpectedly strong for someone of her age and fragility.

"Let go of me!" Harry pleaded desperately. "Help!" He called but no one came. The woman's grip tightened once more and then she, abruptly, pushed Harry back fiercely. Harry stumbled and only just kept his footing. He was suddenly very conscious of the railing behind him and the fact that he could easily fall to his death if the woman pushed any harder.

As if she had read his mind, the woman pushed Harry back aggressively and, with one last panicked look, Harry Potter fell off the London Bridge.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Characters and world were created by JK Rowling.

**A/N: **I think I'm gonna stick with short chapters for now.

* * *

Harry couldn't see anything.

He had thought he was dead, but it didn't seem like it. Harry felt around himself, but didn't find anything out of the ordinary.

It was just dark. Complete darkness and Harry couldn't see anything at all. Throwing his hands in front of him, Harry started to feel for any kind of surface.

"Harry Potter." A feminine voice said in a praising voice.

"Where am I? Where are you? Who are you? Am I dead?" Harry asked quickly, looking around even though he still failed to see anything.

"You are in your mind, Harry Potter. I am in your mind. This is all in your mind. You are not dead." The voice answered, forgetting one question.

"Who are you?" Harry asked repeated, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. The voice chuckled slightly.

"I am Fate."

"What am I doing in my mind if I'm not dead?" Harry asked curiously.

"I'm afraid you cannot return to your previous life."

"What?!"

"I am offering you another chance." Fate disregarded his question.

"What do you mean?"

"Your life in your current life was ruined… By me. You fulfilled my prophecy, and for that I am grateful to you, Harry Potter. So I am offering you a chance at a different life – a better life."

"Since when does Fate give second chances?"

"Since there was someone who gave so much for so little in return." Fate paused thoughtfully. "You have helped Death regain it's respect and you rid the world of the Dark Lord. You were the only one who could. And now, unfairly, you get a life of pain."

"So you offer me a second chance?"

"I'm sending you back in time. You can fix things then and save so many more. Your name would be Ryan Hall, you 'll have a different appearance and you'll be eleven again. You'll finally get your chance at a childhood. Don't you want that?"

_Yes._ Harry thought desperately.

"I thought so." Fate read his mind and Harry could almost hear the smirk in her smug tone. "I'll take care of all the paper work and get you into Hogwarts. This way, you can save the world and not put yours in jeopardy. Now, for your back story – you're an orphan whose parents just died in a Death Eater attack. You don't have any family left."

"Okay… But what year is it?"

"Does that mean you agree?"

"Yes." Harry said without thinking. Then he paused. "You still haven't told me the year."

"1971." Fate said and, before Harry could react, he fell. He tried to hold onto something but failed to grab anything on his way down. For a very long time, Harry felt like he was falling through space – dark, black space.

And then, suddenly, Harry was sitting on the Hogwarts Express in one of the compartments. He was dressed the same way he was when he was the first time he went on the Hogwarts express – overgrown Muggle clothing. Harry was eleven again.

Except, this time, when the compartment door slid open, it was not Ron. The boy now standing in the doorway looked like Harry did at such a young age, except for some minor changes. He didn't look malnourished, instead he looked cared for – almost spoiled. He had the signature Potter messy, untamable black hair but no glasses. He had bright hazel eyes instead of the haunted green ones Harry sported.

With a jolt, Harry realized he was staring into the eleven year old face of his father.

"Can I sit here?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** Characters and world were created by JK Rowling.

**A/N: **Hope you like it!

* * *

Harry just stared in shock at the small boy.

Fate had brought him back to a time where his family was still alive – when they were eleven, no less. Harry felt a rush of excitement; he could fix everything in this life.

"Er… Hello?" James asked again. Harry shook himself out of his happy daze.

"Uh, yeah, sure." Harry said and gestured for the boy to sit down. James grinned eagerly and sat down next to Harry.

"I'm James Potter. Who are you?" James asked happily.

"I'm Ha - er – Ryan Hall." Harry – or Ryan, now - almost slipped up but James didn't seem to have noticed. The excited younger version of his father was so elated he couldn't sit still. He kept on fidgeting.

"Aren't you excited?" James asked but continued on without waiting for an answer. "I can't wait 'til we're sorted! I hope to get into Gryffindor! It's the best house, actually. Or, at least, better than Slytherin. Slytherin is full of slimy gits. If I got into Slytherin, I'd just off myself right then and there rather than be one of them." James rambled on until the compartment door slid open gently to reveal a young Lily Evans.

Ryan felt another jolt at the sight of his mother, aged eleven, of course. She looked like she was about to cry and the dark red hair was slightly windswept, as if she had run all the way there – and Harry knew that she had. James stopped talking at the sight of her.

"C-can I sit here?" Lily asked nervously, wiping furiously at her tears. James nodded at her.

"Sure." James said before he turned back to Ryan. Lily sat down across from them and stared at the windowpane. She tried to hide her tears but Ryan could hear her soft sniffles clearly.

"What house do you wanna be in?" James asked Ryan in his same cheerful tone.

"I don't really have one I really want to be in… If I really had to choose though, I'd pick Gryffindor." Ryan said thoughtfully. Technically, Ryan had already finished his studies at Hogwarts and found that he didn't really care which house he was put in – you'd end up the same person any way.

Before James could reply, another boy opened the compartment door. All eyes flew to him. In the door way, Ryan realized with excitement, was a young and healthy Sirius Black. Ryan had only seen Sirius after he had gotten out of Azkaban, and while this wasn't the same thing as his adult form, Sirius' eyes lacked their usual haunted quality.

"Can I join you?" Sirius asked confidently. Both James and Ryan nodded. While the boys talked, Ryan only added to the conversation when directly asked. He was too busy watching the door, waiting for Severus Snape to come in and try to comfort Lily. Ryan already knew that the resulting fight between James, Sirius, and Snape was the whole reason for the boys mutual rivalry.

When the gangly boy entered the compartment, Ryan instantly became a little more interested. Without asking permission, Snape sat down next to Lily to talk to her. James and Sirius paid no mind. Well, that is, until Snape mentioned something about Slytherin.

"Slytherin?" The incredulous James asked when heard the house name being dropped in conversation by Snape. "Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" James asked Sirius. Sirius didn't smile, just like last time.

"My whole family have been in Slytherin."

"Blimey, and I thought you seemed all right!" Sirius grinned at James' comment.

"Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?" Sirius asked. James lifted an invisible sword.

"'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad!" Snape made a small, disparaging noise. James turned on him.

"Got a problem with that?"

"No, if you'd rather be brawny than brainy-" Snape started with a slight sneer.

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" Sirius interrupted. James laughed. Lily sat up and sent mean looks to James and Sirius.

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment." She said rather snootily.

"Ooooo…" James and Sirius mocked, imitating her lofty tone and then James tried to trip Snape as he made his way past.

"See ya, Snivellus!" Sirius called as the compartment door slammed behind the two best friends. Ryan was nearly ashamed of himself for letting that happen but convinced himself it tuned out alright in the end – him just being there is proof of that, since they are his parents, after all. His main goal for being there was to defeat Voldemort before he got too powerful and, by extension, fix his life.

"I'll be back." Ryan said as he sat up. The other boys looked him on with confusion.

"I'm going to the bathroom." Ryan said causally as he left the compartment. He was not, in fact, lying. Not fully, anyway. Ryan didn't know what he looked like, considering Fate changed his appearance. But Ryan wanted to find Remus and invite him to his compartment. Ryan knew that Remus would probably be dreadfully shy and fearful of making friends.

When Harry arrived in the bathroom, he was very surprised by his appearance. He was unrecognizable. Instead of messy and bordering on too long black hair, he had short blond hair that actually stayed down in the back. Instead of green eyes, he had a light blue. Most of his features were the same, except the fact that his jaw wasn't as strong and defined. Either it was because it looked too much like his father's or because he was eleven once again, Ryan wasn't sure. Also, to his pleasant surprise, he had no cursed lightning shaped scar on his forehead. Great, that would make finding the Voldemort's Horcruxes slightly easier.

Ryan exited the bathroom and walked out.

Right into someone.

….Great…

"Oh, sorry, I-"

Ryan took a second look at the person he had barreled into. He had blonde hair and watery blue eyes. He was small and plump and had a round face.

Peter Pettigrew.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** Characters and world were created by JK Rowling.

**A/N: **I hope you like it (I say that a lot, but whatever).

* * *

Ryan stopped talking abruptly and narrowed his now blue eyes to the size of slits. Peter flinched under his hard stare.

If he was going to be fixing things, the first this that needed to be fixed were the Marauders. Peter betrayed his friends, and Ryan couldn't risk that happening again in the new future he was fixing for the Wizarding World.

"Sorry." Ryan said coldly before darting into the closest compartment. He breathed a sigh of relief before turning to his new problem.

Two girls were in the compartment, starting at Ryan as if he had grown three extra heads.

Nervously, Ryan reached up a hand to ruffle his hair. He laughed uncertainly.

"Uh, hello." He greeted awkwardly. Reluctantly, one of the girls motioned for him to sit down and Ryan obeyed.

"Uh, I'm Marlene McKinnon." The girl who invited him to sit down said. Ryan realized she was future member of the Order of the Phoenix. Unfortunately, she had died in the First Wizarding War. He hoped she wouldn't have to this time around. Marlene had long brown hair that was slightly wavy. She had a confident grin on and Ryan found himself smiling too in response.

"Ryan Hall." He said, this time without a slip up.

"Mary MacDonald." The other girl – Mary – introduced herself. Ryan had heard the name before – his mother had been the one to say it actually, in someone of Snape's memories. Mary had short dirty blonde hair that she was twirling on her finger in a nervous fashion.

"Are you a first year, too?" Marlene asked.

"Yeah. Well, it was nice meeting you girls, but I've got to get back to my compartment." Ryan said, standing up once again. Mary actually looked a little disappointed but Marlene kept up her preppy smile.

"Okay, see ya later!" Marlene called as he walked out of the room. Mary said sent goodbyes. Since Ryan was actually a 19 year old, it was weird for him to have 11 years olds with crushes on him. Technically, they were older than him – they were born in 1960 and he was in 1980, after all – but it was still really strange for him.

Ryan looked around for a small, sandy blond haired boy for a little while before making his way back to the compartment with James and Sirius. To his delight, another boy was in there already – an eleven year old Remus Lupin.

Fitting to their personalities, Sirius was sprawled out on own of the seats, easting Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, occasionally sitting them out with a disgusted look on his face, James was also eating Pumpkin Pasties next to him, and Remus was reading a book, _The Standard Book of Spells Grade One_ by Miranda Goshawk, and eating chocolate at the same time.

All the boys looked up from their previous occupations when Ryan entered.

"Ryan, you're back!" James said happily before returned to his snacks.

"This is Remus Lupin." James said with a slightly full mouth. Remus gave Ryan a shy nod before returning to his book.

Then, all of a sudden, Sirius jumped up and spit out the jelly bean in his mouth. He jumped around and fanned his hands at his mouth, as if to make the taste go away.

"What?" James asked.

"Vomit flavored!" Sirius whined in explanation before wiping his tongue on his hands. James laughed at his expense and Sirius glowered at him. Ryan sat down next to Remus.

"Hello."

Remus looked up, surprised that someone was actually talking to him.

"Uh, hi." Ryan laughed at the uneasy greeting.

"Don't be so shy, Remus."

"I'm n-not being shy!"

"Then what do you call this – sitting around, reading a book, not talking unless directly spoken to – you're shy!"

"Okay, fine." Ryan grinned at Remus' resign. He grabbed a Pumpkin Pasty from James and stuffed it into his mouth. James gave an affronted 'hey' but Ryan paid to mind.

"Do you think we're almost at Hogwarts?" Ryan asked with his mouth full.

"Maybe, it's getting a little late…" Remus trailed of as he looked at the window. All of a sudden, the door slid open revealing – Ryan inwardly groaned – Peter Pettigrew.

The plump boy took a quick look around before he saw Ryan and instantly paled. Ryan sent him one of his deathliest glares and Peter ran off again, forgetting to close the compartment door in his haste.

"What was that about?" Sirius wondered aloud as he got up to close the compartment door again. Ryan hoped no one saw his intense glaring but they were dashed when he noticed Remus looking at him with his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Damn.

"I dunno, I've never seen him before in my life." James pondered. Remus was still watching Ryan closely.

"Ryan, do you know him?" Remus asked curiously.

"W-what? No!" Ryan sputtered.

Wrong move.

Luckily, Remus' next line was interrupted by two familiar girls and a not so familiar one entering the compartment.

"Mar!" James greeted cheerfully. Marlene smiled at him.

"Jay!" She hugged him before moving back to introduce her friends.

"Jay, this is Mary MacDonald and Dorcas Meadowes. They're first years too!" Marlene cried excitedly. James moved aside to present his friends.

"This is Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Ryan Hall." Marlene brightened when she say Ryan, recognizing him from earlier.

"Oh, yeah, I know Ryan." Marlene said, giving the boy in reference a friendly wave. Remus once again turned on Ryan to look at him suspiciously.

Oh, boy.

"How?" James asked.

"He just came running into compartment earlier today, he seemed like he was running from someone." Marlene shrugged before sitting down next to James. Mary and Dorcas sat opposite her with Ryan and Remus.

"Who were you running from?" Remus asked Ryan quietly so only he could hear.

"Don't worry about it." Ryan said in what he hoped was a nonchalant tone. Remus didn't back off, though, but seemed to have decided to leave it alone for now.

* * *

At the sorting, the large group of friends stood anxiously waiting to get sorted. James was basically vibrating and Marlene wasn't much different. Dorcas was picking at her uniform, trying to keep her mind of things. Remus was fidgeting and Sirius had a terrified look on his face. Ryan knew why of course – he wanted to be a Gryffindor and was going to break the Black Slytherin tradition. Ryan, unlike his friends, was completely calm; he had gone through this experience before and knew it wasn't all that terrifying.

Besides, he hardly cared which house he got put into anymore.

"Black, Sirius!" McGonagall called. Sirius gulped and walked forward to sit on the stool. After a couple seconds, the hat called:

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Most people were surprised – a Black getting into any other house but Slytherin was unheard of. The Slytherins looked personally affronted, as if someone stole something away from them. Sirius, on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear and sent a thumb up to his new friends before sitting at the Gryffindor table.

"Evans, Lily!" McGonagall called after a few other people. Lily was blushing from all the attention and then plopped down on the stool to be sorted. The hat was on her head for half a second or less before it called "GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily sat down at her new house table, sending a sad smile to Snape.

"Hall, Ryan!" McGonagall called a couple people after Lily. Ryan went up proudly and sat down on the stool. He felt the professor put the hat on his head.

_Oh. This is interesting… Harry Potter – or maybe Ryan Hall now._ The hat told Ryan and the boy paled. _You are very deceptive, cunning… You could do well in Slytherin – but you already know that don't you?_

_Please don't tell. _Ryan thought. _I have to fix things._

_Ah, right, you defeated Voldemort in your previous life… I will not tell anyone. I see a lot of sadness in your past… And a lot of greatness… You are smart. A life in Ravenclaw would suit you well…_

_Can I be in Gryffindor?_

_Ah, yes, but don't you want to try something new? You are loyal… You would be great in Hufflepuff…_

_I want to be in Gryffindor._

_For your new friends? Your parents?_

…_Yes._

_Are you sure? You'd be great in Hufflepuff… You are very loyal… Or maybe Ravenclaw… Or Slytherin…?_

_This sorting has got to have been the longest in history… _Ryan thought, starting to get inpatient. He could feel the eyes of everyone on him, waiting restlessly.

_You are not very patient… Alright, Ryan Hall, you belong in:_

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Ryan's sorting had taken eight minutes. McGonagall seemed to snatch the hat off of his head irritably. Ryan smiled slightly in embarrassment before joining the cheering Gryffindor table. He sat down with Sirius, who sent him a questionable look.

"Why'd it take you so long?" He asked Ryan, who shrugged, feigning ignorance.

"I don't know. The hat just had a lot to say and had some trouble finding the right house for me." Ryan dismissed. He and Sirius waited quietly before "Lupin, Remus" had gotten called. After a while, he was also sorted into Gryffindor, like Ryan knew he would be.

"MacDonald, Mary." McGonagall a little bit after Remus' sorting. She, too, was sorted into Gryffindor.

"McKinnon, Marlene." Another Gryffindor.

"Meadowes, Dorcas." Gryffindor.

"Pettigrew, Peter." This time, the hat had taken a while, again. Ryan hoped desperately that he had changed something on the train and that Peter would get sorted into a different house.

After a while, the hat called:

"SLYTHERIN!" The whole hall was shocked for a moment that such an unintimidating boy could become a Slytherin but Ryan was grinning.

The rat actually went to the right house this time.

"Potter, James." Not too much later, McGonagall called James to get sorted. The hat had barely even touched the boy's messy hair before it placed him in Gryffindor.

"Snape, Severus." Once again, Snape was sorted into Slytherin and he was separated from his best friend, who was currently giving James and Sirius the cold shoulder.

To be honest, in Ryan's eyes, it was almost funny seeing James get disappointed every time he tried to talk to her and Lily sticking her nose in the air and refusing to talk to him. From one look at Remus, he could tell the new Gryffindor was just as amused.

Then, Dumbledore said a few words – the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher was Professor Grover and the Forbidden Forest if forbidden – and the food appeared. All of the Muggleborns looked stunned at the sudden abundance of food but the students who had grown up with magic their whole life were a lot less shocked and a lot quicker to started eating.

* * *

That night after the first years went to bed, the new Gryffindor boys stayed up talking. They were each in their individual beds, under the covers, and were all very tired but none wanted to be the one to go to sleep first.

Currently, Sirius was ranting about Quidditch – which Remus and Ryan had quickly learned was his default conversational setting – and had already yawned 3 times in the last five minutes.

"Sirius, go to sleep, you're obviously tired." Remus said rationally. Sirius looked affronted.

"You're crazy! I'm not tired!" Sirius protested but his words were once again interrupted by a yawn. Remus gave him a dry look.

"Then why are you yawning?"

"Because…"

"Exactly."

"How about we all go to sleep, for Sirius' sake?" Ryan asked to boys. To be honest, they all looked very tired and Ryan knew he was exhausted too.

"I like that idea." James put in with a yawn and then turned away from his friends in his bed.

"We have classes tomorrow, anyway." Remus said before snuggling closer into his blankets. Sirius looked around and saw that his friends were getting ready to go to sleep and then did the same, with the relief fresh on his face. Ryan pulled his curtains around his bed and put a non-verbal silencing charm on them.

_Tomorrow,_ Ryan thought, _we go to Dumbledore. He'll need to know how to defeat Voldemort if this war wanted to be stopped now._


End file.
